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Michael B Jordan was born in Santa Ana, California, the son of Donna (née Davis), an artist and high school guidance counselor, and Michael A. Jordan. He is the middle of three children with an older sister, Jamila, who works in production, and a younger brother, Khalid, who was a football player at Howard University.[2] Jordan's family spent two years in California[3] before moving to Newark, New Jersey.[4] He attended Newark Arts High School, where his mother works, and where he played basketball.[4] Jordan's middle name, "Bakari", is Swahili for "noble promise".[5]

Jordan launched his career as a professional actor in 1999, when he appeared briefly in single episodes of Cosby and The Sopranos.[4] His first principal film role followed 2001 when he was featured in Hardball, which starred Keanu Reeves. In 2002, he gained more attention by playing the small but pivotal role of Wallace in the first season of HBO's The Wire. In March 2003, he joined the cast of All My Children playing Reggie Porter, a troubled teenager, until June 2006 when Jordan was released from his contract.[8]

In 2009, Jordan began starring in the NBC drama Friday Night Lights as quarterback Vince Howard, and lived in an apartment in Austin where the show was filmed.[10] He played the character for two seasons until the show ended in 2011.[11] In 2010, he was considered one of the 55 faces of the future by Nylon Magazine's Young Hollywood Issue.[12][13] That year, he landed a recurring role on the NBC show Parenthood playing Alex (Haddie Braverman's love interest).[14] This marked his second collaboration with showrunner Jason Katims, who was in charge of Friday Night Lights. BuddyTV ranked him #80 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".[15] Jordan voiced Jace in the Xbox 360 game, Gears of War 3.[16]

Jordan starred as Adonis Creed, the son of boxer Apollo Creed in the Rocky sequelCreed (2015), his second collaboration with Coogler which co-starred Sylvester Stallone.[31] Jordan prepared for his role as a boxer in Creed by undertaking one year of rigorous physical training and a stringent low-fat diet.[32] He did not have a body double during filming and was "routinely bloodied, bruised and dizzy" when fighting scenes were being filmed.[32]

In 2016, Jordan appeared in an Apple commercial with retired NBA player Kobe Bryant and is tied into the story line for the video game NBA 2K17, where he does several scenes with Bryant that mirror their interactions in their joint Apple commercial.